14 April 2019
Surprise waterless hike
Hiking from Nathan Road up Beacon Hill over Lion Rock and back again
It was supposed to be pouring with rain all day. I got up and peered out the window, it looked like any other rainy day. I went outside thinking I would wander the streets aimlessly all day trying not to get wet, just like yesterday, except it wasnt raining.
I was not yet convinced, so I wandered up Nathan road, thinking it would rain any second now. It didnt.
I saw a hill / mountain, and thought I would head towards it, surely just pondering going up a mountain would cause an immediate severe flood, the direction I choose to walk is clearly the determining factor for weather. Still no rain. Hmmm.
Because I was convinced it would rain all day, I had set off without my running pack thing that I keep water in and now forms a structural part of my camera setup. Despite this, I was determined, I thought to myself, I will just drink 2 litres of water now and not carry any with me. Well that didnt go to plan either, the road I took up to the start of a hiking trail was all guarded compounds of fancy apartments I could not access, oh well, no water it is then!
Finding the real trail first required finding any kind of a trail up the side of a cliff, thankfully a little old guy lead the way, and we hauled ourselves up some ropes before joining the main Maclehose trail. If you have ever done any hiking at all in Hong Kong you will know the Maclehose trail. I checked some of the maps, and if it did decide to rain, there were numerous options back down again, so I had selected the best place to come in case I needed to flee. But it never rained. This allowed me to ascend and descend both Canyon Hill and Lion Rock. It was great. I sweated profusely (btw, sweated isnt a word!) despite having no water since waking up. Sitting here typing this now my legs are aching more than usual because of that. Oh well.
There were other people on the trail, nearly all of them Filipino house maids on their day off. Now ask yourself, why is it Philippines and Filipino. Why not Philippino?
As usual, the photos of Hong Kong from mountains are badly impacted by mist / fog / smog, you have been warned.
Here is Nathan road out the front of my hotel. Note the surprising lack of rain.
I was looking for a cafe open at 7:30am on a Sunday. No luck. KFC was open for their weird Asian breakfast but I just could not bring myself to do it.
My route took me up a freeway past a swimming pool.
Soon I joined a hiking trail, still no rain, I skipped gleefully.
That is a construction site being built into the side of a hill.
Before very long at all I got enough height to start appreciating the excellent, but hazey view.
More view.
The main trail was very developed, even if it did start to rain I would have no problem today.
Beacon hill. This is probably the beacon they speak of. It looks abandoned, as you shall see I suspect it was for the old airport.
Near the centre of the picture you can see the old Kai Tak airport runway. I am standing almost on the famous checkerboard, where huge jets used to perform a sharp turn in front of the mountain and try not to hit any buildings as they descended between them.
Off in the distance, lion rock, my main goal for today.
Half way up the rock part of lion rock looking back at beacon hill. The Beacon has since vanished in the fog.
I stood in this exact spot in severe fog many years ago. Now I am here again.
There really are steep cliffs to fall off if that is your thing.
These Filipino girls are trying their best to die posing for photos.
I stayed a long way from the edge, meanwhile behind me they were leaping into the air on rocks near the edge.
Past lion rock there is another peak to go over, I dont know what its called, but the signs all point to Sha Tin Pass.
More Filipinos perched on the edge. I am starting to understand why they need the signs everywhere telling people not to go on the official hiking trail.
I chose to access beyond this point. It seemed no more likely to kill you than the previous points.
That there is my path down, along the ridge. Still no rain, no idea how this has occurred but I was very glad I went for a waterless hike.
I was very powerful today.
About halfway down, by this point the path became a solid marble stair case.
Last photo, a temple! This one features razor wire, swastikas, and a huge power pole thingy. Soon after this, it started raining hard, literally minutes after I got back to the road. Perfect timing.